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. 1986 Oct;52(4):832–837. doi: 10.1128/aem.52.4.832-837.1986

Assessment of in vivo revival, growth, and pathogenicity of Escherichia coli strains after copper- and chlorine-induced injury.

A Singh, R Yeager, G A McFeters
PMCID: PMC239122  PMID: 3535675

Abstract

Cells of one enteroinvasive and three enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli were exposed to sublethal concentrations of copper and chlorine to produce 85 to 94% injury. Injured cells were intraluminally inoculated into ligated ileal loops of anesthetized mice, and injury was assessed at timed intervals. Substantial recovery (72-84%) of copper- and chlorine-injured cells was observed in the inoculated loops at 4 and 3 h, respectively. No appreciable increase in total numbers was observed during these time intervals. In vitro revival of copper-injured cells in phosphate-buffered saline alone after incubation at 35 degrees C for 4 h was not observed. However, a 60 to 70% revival occurred when 200 micrograms of protein per ml of mouse intestinal mucosal homogenate was incorporated into saline cell suspensions. The enterotoxigenic activity of copper-injured cells in rabbit ileal loops was somewhat reduced compared with that of chlorine-injured or uninjured cells. These results show that injured pathogenic E. coli cells can revive in the small intestine and appear to retain their enterotoxigenic activity.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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